S&YE148 - Sally XTrek

[00:00:06] and I tried to counter steer a little bit and that's when the car completely spun out of control. And I spun, I want to say a few hundred feet down the middle of the highway. Hello, this is Ashley and you can find me on Instagram at sallyxtrek and you're listening to episode 148 of the Subie & You podcast. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the podcast. If my voice sounds different, it's because I've been sick all week. So I'm going to try to make it through this intro without coughing to death.

[00:00:35] When I first started recording this little intro, I think I got three words in before I started like having a coughing fit. So I'll make it through this, but bear with me and all will be okay. I want to say thank you to Ashley for being a guest on this episode and for sharing her story. That first little bit that I put in was a pretty scary story. So of course we'll hear more of that when you get into the episode.

[00:01:02] But I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving this week and eat lots of food, but not too much so that you are in a food coma and miserable. It's always great to eat a lot of food and enjoy it. But then sometimes you're like, oh man, I ate too much. But mostly I hope you all have fun with friends and family and just enjoy that time together and be thankful for the things that you have. Be thankful for your friends and family. And it's okay.

[00:01:31] You can be thankful for the Subie and You podcast too. Because as I'm sitting here sounding a little bit like Barry White, I am thankful for all of you for tuning in and for continuing to listen to the podcast. Man, my voice sounds jacked up. But the show must go on. I've got work to do here. So I've got to get an episode out for everybody to listen to on Thanksgiving week. I know that some of you will be taking the week off probably to be with your kids.

[00:01:58] I'm going to be taking Wednesday off at least because we get Thursday and Friday off. So that I am also thankful for. I'm also thankful for the people that have gone in and rated and given a review on Apple Podcasts. But if you're listening through Apple Podcasts, please go rate it and write a review. And I will read it here on the podcast. I haven't had one in a while. So come on my Apple Podcasts listeners. The Subie and You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:02:25] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community-driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights, and side taillights. I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers. To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works. So be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram. The holidays are upon us.

[00:02:54] So it is a great time to gift somebody with an Eccentric Designs decal or overlay or whatever you find on the website that you enjoy. So thank you so much, Eccentric Designs, for sponsoring the Subie and You podcast. Being that this is Thanksgiving week, you know what's coming up on Friday. That's right. All those Black Friday sales.

[00:03:16] With the holiday shopping season rapidly approaching, Ryko Wheels wants to let you know that they will be holding their annual Black Friday sale for an entire week for all of their Subaru customers. If you are looking for the highest quality specialized wheels and lift kits that will elevate the look of your Subaru, head over to the Ryko website at rykowheels.com.

[00:03:38] Beginning this Friday, November 24th, they will be offering 20% off all website orders, including free shipping within the continental U.S. Enter the code BLACKFRIDAY2023 at checkout to receive your discount. The sale ends December 1st at midnight. So head on over to rykowheels.com this Friday and enjoy a whole week of savings. The quest for adventure begins with you and Ryka is what gets you there.

[00:04:07] Thank you so much, Ryka, for sponsoring the Subie and You podcast. This episode is also brought to you by Melee Design Firm. Right now through December 5th, save 12% on all Melee products throughout their entire site, like the new Melee Group 35 tie-down to secure your OEM battery in style. It is available in three finishes, textured black, textured red, and hammer tone.

[00:04:33] Add this new item or any other item on the Melee website to your cart and automatically receive 12% off your purchase. No code needed. Thank you so much, Melee Design Firm, for sponsoring the Subie and You podcast. We have another patron question of the week, and this one comes from Heather, who goes by San Diego Stunner.

[00:04:54] She asks, hypothetically, if you had the funding to hire a person to join you on the podcast team, what position would you hire for and why? That is a really good question, but I do have a good answer. For me, anyway. I would hire for the editing process because that is what takes the longest. Because of the way that I edit and because that, like, if I want to pat myself on the back for something, I'm really good at editing.

[00:05:21] And, I mean, if you've listened to any of the episodes, you know that they flow really, really well. So, there's that. I can at least say that about myself with the podcast that I'm very proud of. So, sometimes the editing process can take up to, like, if I have an episode that's like an hour and a half, it might take me three hours or so to edit it. Because I have to listen to it all the way through again. So, that's at least an hour and a half there. And then there are long pauses sometimes that I like to cut out.

[00:05:51] There are brain farts that either myself or my guest has. And then there's also, like, repetitive words that I will cut out at times. And so, it can just take a long time to get through the editing process. But if I were to hire somebody and tell them how I wanted the episode edited or episodes edited, and I listened to a few of them, and they weren't up to my standards,

[00:06:16] they would be fired very quickly because I am very proud about my editing skills and getting the episodes to sound the way that I want them to sound. So, they would have to do it the way I would do it. But that is the position that I would hire for because that does take a lot of time, and I could use some help with that. But for now, everything is done by me, like you heard at the end. Recorded in a closet in Houston. Edited in a room.

[00:06:46] Next to the closet in Houston. And so on. But everything that you see and hear, all of the content, everything that comes from the podcast is all done by one person. It's done by me. So, that's why I'm so grateful for all the people that are supporting the podcast, like my sponsors and my patrons. Because, like some of these other big production podcasts, I don't have a team. I don't have an editor. I don't have a producer.

[00:07:11] I don't have all these other people that are helping me do the podcast. That would be cool, though, to just pull up to the mic with my guest and start talking and then finish the conversation and be done and move on to the next one. But for now, it's all me, and I'm glad to be able to take care of it and know that what you see and hear is all done by me. So, thank you all so much for your support, and thank you for all the messages. It really does mean a lot because I do put in a lot of work to this podcast.

[00:07:40] And it's, yeah, all the messages, they really help. So, I like seeing new messages from people, and it really helps to let me know that what I'm doing, everybody is enjoying. So, thank you. And thank you so much for your question, Heather. This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com. You will feel like dashing through the snow in this Wild Tribute Ski Bum Long Sleeve Tee by Wild Tribute.

[00:08:10] If you recall, I had Wild Tribute as a guest on episode 139. By purchasing this Wild Tribute Long Sleeve Tee, your purchase makes a difference. Wild Tribute was founded to honor national parks and public lands and donates 4% of proceeds to protect these historic and wild places. So, head on over to SubaruGear.com to get this great long-sleeve tee, and be sure to use the code SUBINU23 at checkout to get 20% off your purchase.

[00:08:39] Since the holidays are upon us, go ahead and fill up that cart and also receive free shipping when your total is over $50 after the podcast discount. Thank you so much, SubaruGear.com, for sponsoring the Subi & You podcast. All right, it's time to get into this episode with Ashley and hear all about her Subaru journey and Sally X-Trek, which is her Crosstrek, and just hear what she has to say. So, here we go, everybody.

[00:09:25] Welcome to the podcast, Ashley. It's nice to have you on. Thank you for all of your messages that you've sent me about the podcast. I really appreciate that, and we were talking about that before we started recording, that I get people that send me messages, and that's a really big part of what keeps me going, is all the positive messages and compliments that people send me. So, I really appreciate it, and I'm glad to have you on. Of course. Thank you for having me on. You're welcome.

[00:09:56] Yeah, so, I, uh, did you name your, is your car Sally? Is that the name of your car? She is. She is, um, she's named after Sally Carrera from Cars. Oh, nice. Very good. Yeah. Yep. So, did you, like, when you were thinking of names, did that just pop up, or were you thinking of different names that you were considering? So, it's kind of weird how everything happened.

[00:10:23] I ended up with that car within three days, which I know is not typical. And so, it just happened that she was blue, and I really, I didn't have any other names. That's just what it was. She's still in the lot, and that's what I was calling her. So, that's just, that's just how it ended up. Yeah. So, is this your first Subaru? Yes. Yep. So, why did you, why did you choose Subaru, and why a Crosstrek? This is a loaded question.

[00:10:53] So, I grew up going to car shows with my dad. And I remember being very young, I don't know how old I was, and him pointing out an STI to me. And, you know, from that point on, I had some, I wouldn't say, like, asphyxiation, but, like, from a little kid onward, after seeing that, like, I always wanted one. Every single time we'd go to a car show, I'd be looking for the WRXs, and the STIs,

[00:11:21] and the Impreza STIs, and I don't know why they always stick out to me. My grandparents always had Subarus. I know sometimes that's super stereotypical, but they never drove anything but a Subaru. That's cool, though. And so, at the time, the car market was awful, and we went to a Subaru dealership, and they didn't have much. And I wanted a WRX.

[00:11:49] And look at it, they didn't have any anyway. And I looked at Crosstreks. I really enjoyed them. And I did know about kind of, like, the overland off-road community before that, and I was like, you know what? That could be cool. And we kind of have the climate for it. And so, it just happened that they had one, and that was Sally, and they brought her out and had me drive that first, which was a mistake because I didn't want to drive anything else after that.

[00:12:19] Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, it's, you know, you have your eye and heart set on a particular car, and then were you looking, did you want a WRX because of the speed or just because you were so, you really enjoyed the look and the styling of the WRX and the STI? I'd say both. I really wanted a performance vehicle just because I do enjoy speed.

[00:12:46] But, you know, in my mind, there's so many things that you could do to a WRX specifically. So many, like, specific parts they make for one, but also just, I think, that nostalgia of, like, being a little kid and being like, I will have one of these one day type of thing. But Crosstack changed my mind. Yeah, it sounds like getting into Sally, you weren't disappointed. No, definitely not. That's good.

[00:13:16] Definitely not. Yeah, it's good, too, that, like, getting into a Crosstrek wasn't like, okay, they don't have a WRX, so I'm settling for a Crosstrek. You know, you looked at it and you really liked it, and then it's like, okay, this is it. I didn't want to do anything else after that. They were like, we've got a Forrester Sport. Do you want to sit in that? And by that point, I was like, I don't want to bus. This is fine. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. I'm glad it happened the way that it did. It was very fast, but.

[00:13:46] Well, you definitely got into a Subaru, so that's good. Oh, yeah. So what level, or, yeah, when did you buy it, and then what trim level is it? So I bought, it was February of 2022. Okay. Wow, that's not too long ago, a year and a half ago. Yeah. Almost two years. Almost two years. And Sally's a 2022 Crosstrek Sport.

[00:14:15] I mean, 2021 Crosstrek Sport, excuse me. All right, nice. Yeah. I haven't, I haven't driven a sport, but, and I, I have, well, I've driven one other Crosstrek before that was not a manual, and that was Silver Bullet XV. And. Melly. Yeah. That was fun. That was fun. I've ridden with him too, which was interesting. That was one of my favorite things I've ever seen. Yeah. I enjoyed that.

[00:14:44] I think that's the only automatic Crosstrek I've driven, as far as I know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think so. But, so I don't know, like, how the, the sport performs. I've heard of other people driving a sport and a non-sport, and they say there's, you know, a pretty significant difference. But it's definitely a nice trim level. I, I appreciate it. I haven't driven just a base Crosstrek, so I don't really have a fair comparison.

[00:15:13] But I do like, it has a little bit of a bigger engine, so it doesn't really fuel my need for speed, but it compensates in other ways. Yeah. Yeah. So, you said that you knew about, like, other cars and stuff, but did you know, like, how big the community was? When you bought your Crosstrek? Absolutely not. Yeah. There's many of us that don't.

[00:15:40] I guess I didn't, I didn't think, like, just the Crosstrek community would be so large. Yeah. Yeah. So, how did you start getting connected with people and, like, how soon did you start an Instagram profile for your car? Oh, so, yeah. I feel like things move kind of quickly for me a little bit. I believe, so if I bought the car in February of 22, I believe I started the Instagram that May.

[00:16:09] Okay. So, it wasn't immediately after, but it was funny because on my personal TikTok account, I had posted a video about the Crosstrek and the Silver Bullet XV found it. Oh, yeah. So, he's actually the first person I met was Millie. Nice. So, I've known him this whole time and he's the one who kind of encouraged me to start an Instagram. So, that's where that came from. That's cool. Way to go, Millie. Good job. Right. Thank you, Millie.

[00:16:38] So, then, like, how soon did you start getting connected with people on Instagram? Like, did you just start seeking people out? Because I know, for me, like, I've connected with a lot of different people, but I don't always remember, like, how it got started. I think I've gotten better with it now because even online, I feel like I can be a little bit shy. I would say I'm a pretty introverted extrovert. That makes sense. You've probably heard people say that before. Yeah.

[00:17:04] But, for the most part, at the beginning, I don't really think I was initiating any of these conversations. Okay. Because I don't think, I mean, there were points in time where I was getting more attention kind of farther down the line, which made it easier because, like, more people were saying my stuff, I guess, if that makes sense. Like, conversations were being started without me really starting them, I guess. I think I've gotten a little bit better now kind of just commenting on things.

[00:17:34] And, you know, encouraging other people. Because I have to kind of remind myself, like, if I think something, I should just say it. You know, make somebody else's day a little bit better. Oh, yeah. Of course. But I think, honestly, I've probably only reached out to, like, a handful of people. You being one of them. Other than that, it's the majority of people reaching out to me. And, like, thankfully, a lot of friendships kind of stemmed from that.

[00:18:04] Yeah. It's pretty amazing how quickly you can become friends with somebody in this community. I mean, people from all over the country and even all over the world. You know, you end up chatting with somebody. And because, like, I've gotten into conversations where I'll just ask somebody a question or they'll ask me a question, and next thing you know, it's been an hour and a half that we've been chatting back and forth. And it's like, this is so cool. You know, you can connect with somebody so quickly.

[00:18:32] And then it's cool to know people all over the place. It's hard. It's hard to describe. I really don't feel like you find that in a lot of other places. Yeah, I know. I haven't. Yeah. I feel like any other car community. I would own only Suburbs for the rest of my life just based off of how receptive people are. You know, it's really easy for the car community to kind of slip into not good things.

[00:19:01] And that's kind of what made me nervous about making an Instagram for a cross track. So I realized how big it was. And people have your back. So. Yeah. There's so many people that are supportive, especially if you have questions about something that you want to do with your car. You get all kinds of people that will help you out. I really, I always enjoy seeing what other people are doing. That's a big part of why I think I enjoy it so much. Yeah. So what have you done with your cross track?

[00:19:29] I know you don't have too many mods, but I know you have done a few things. So what have you done with yours? So as of right now, I have an Amber delete on the front lights. And at the back windows, all the emblems are carbon fiber. And red. Super really good is red. That's from our Cine vinyl and designs. Oh, yeah. Top of them. Yeah. Everything else, like tint wise is from, oh my goodness. Eccentric designs? Yeah. Eccentric designs. Yes.

[00:19:59] Yes. Okay. And then pretty early on, I bought, I wanted some pods from Diode Dynamics, but I didn't want to just buy them at the gate without like kind of seeing the placement on the car first. And I ended up buying some spot ranger lights from Alpina Automotive. So I have those on the front end and they actually sent me some interior lighting for the car and a light bar that I haven't done anything with yet.

[00:20:29] So shout out to them for that. That was, that was pretty cool. Nice. Yeah. Are you planning to do any other mods to it? I mean, do you have like things that you want to do or are you just kind of happy keeping it simple? I think cosmetically I'm okay at the moment. I'd like to wrap the hood. Matte black probably. Yeah. I've seen a few people do that. That's nice. I really like.

[00:20:54] And then probably a lift and some, some different wheels and tires. Yeah. I know. When we're not on the road 24 seconds. Yeah. Yeah. I know a wheel company by the name of Rika that makes some pretty nice wheels. Yeah. A little shout out there. That's a Rika wheel. Yeah. So what have you done, have you gone to any car meetups or anything near you?

[00:21:21] So I would say where I was in Pennsylvania, there wasn't really any meets that were super specific. Obviously there's Boxer Fest and Wicked Big Meat and those are probably the closest. Did you make it out to those? Yeah. So I had tickets to Boxer Fest and when I took that job as a lifeguard, unfortunately I couldn't go because we worked every day. Oh, that sucks. No days off.

[00:21:49] So, and I didn't know that out of the gate. So that was very disappointing, but I have my fingers crossed for next year because there's so many people, there's so many things planned for that. And so. Yeah. Boxer Fest is a cool event. I've been to that. I've been to Subi Fest, California and now Subi Fest, Texas, which that was really cool. So I, yeah, if you can make it, I highly recommend it. It's a lot of fun. And it's a good time.

[00:22:18] And it's cool because like, if you know other people that are going that you haven't met in person, but you've chatted with, it's cool to meet people in person. And then also, you know, just meet Bucky and whoever, you know, any of the other drivers that are there and watch them do their little exhibits with their cars and have fun and burn up tires. That's cool. That, that's probably what I was looking forward to most is there were so many people that were going to Boxer Fest this year that I had become pretty good friends with.

[00:22:47] So that was a real bummer. Yeah. Yeah. It sucks. So have you met. Next year, guys. Yeah. Have you met people that you've connected with online? Have you met them in person? I have met 412 Trek. He's probably the closest to me at the time. When I was still living in Pennsylvania, he's out of Pittsburgh. And, um, we met up and that was pretty cool. So. Is that the only person? For now. Yeah. For now.

[00:23:18] Yeah. You'll meet other people at some point. That's cause it's like one of the most fun things to do also, aside from just connecting with people online and getting to chat is like actually meeting somebody in person. It's really, it's really cool. So you'll get there. Fingers crossed. I'm coming. So you've done, it looks like you've done a lot of trips in your car cause you've gone a lot of places and I know you're kind of floating back and forth, but so since you've had your

[00:23:47] cross track, how many miles have you put on it since you bought it? So since last year, I bought the car with 8,000 miles on it. And as of today, we are at 41,000. Oh yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Don't tell my insurance that please. Yeah. I'm at 92,000 miles in just over three years. So yeah, I'll get there. Yeah.

[00:24:17] Yeah. That you'll get there that quickly. So where, so where are some places that you've been that have been your favorite? Cause I was looking through your stories and you have some trips in there and like, which has been your favorite and which place was the furthest or longest drive? Goodness. So I would say when I left Pennsylvania to go to South Carolina, that was 12 hours straight. I did not stop except for gas.

[00:24:45] I don't recommend doing that, but that was kind of a rush. But just recently, I just got back from a trip literally like two days ago and we did the great smoking mountains in Tennessee. Then we were in Myrtle beach for a week. And then we did a little, uh, we had a wedding in Mississippi. So we kind of took our time and, um, stopped in Alabama in Tuscaloosa and then we did Mississippi

[00:25:14] and then we did Charleston, South Carolina after that. Now we're back here in Indiana, but in total that was three and a half weeks and like eight States. That's awesome. Yeah. That's really cool. How many, do you know, did you like calculate how many miles you put on it that whole time or you just didn't pay attention? I definitely should have. Have you, so I know you've driven through some mud and some snow, but have you driven

[00:25:43] through sand at all? Yes. So where, where I was in Pennsylvania was right on Lake Erie and in Erie, Pennsylvania, there is a peninsula, uh, Prescott State Park. Anybody ever is in that area. It's a cool place to go. And, uh, we've driven, not, not huge, but we've driven up some sand dunes there. Um, there's probably a few pictures of that farther down, but yeah. What was that experience like?

[00:26:13] Sand is very bad for your car. Uh, it just is. So I wouldn't really recommend doing that every day, but, um, I like it better than snow. Yeah. So did you ever end up getting stuck in the sand? Uh, surprisingly, no. That's good. I can't, I can't say that's probably just luck on my part, but no. That's good. What about snow? Have you ever gotten stuck in snow? Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:43] Uh, uh, it's kind of hard, uh, when you live that far north to not get stuck in snow at some point. Big part of my problem, uh, at least this last year was, um, a lot of the times the plows would just plow in our driveways. Oh, yeah. And I would just have to kind of drive over like two, three feet of plowed snow. Sounds like you need some goat treads. Oh yeah, I do. Anyways.

[00:27:13] Yeah. So what about our mud? You ever gotten stuck in mud? Surprisingly? No, but once again, I think that's luck because 99% of the trails, we all, we, we did that in rainy weather. So I really just think that's luck. So would you say sand is your favorite then? Yeah. Yeah. I, I have to stay away from it though, because I won't stop. So, yeah, that's me with mud.

[00:27:41] We don't have anything too deep out here to, or mucky to like really get stuck in, which, but I mean the mud that I do go through it, like I always stop like in the middle of, I'll stop like in a big mud puddle and then I'll start going. And it's just like, and every time it surprises me every time I'm like, oh my gosh, it's still going. You know, it just goes right through it. But it's amazing. Like that the all wheel drive just takes you right through. And I mean, it's, it's fun.

[00:28:07] I like mud, but it's, it's, it's not fun cleaning it up, especially if you are not able to clean it off right away, then it gets dried up and then that just sucks. So I think the next time I go do it, I'm just going to have to like go to the pressure washer and clean out because the wheel wells are the worst part. Once it dries in there, it's so bad, but I like having the mud on my car because it looks cool.

[00:28:35] So it's like a, you know, it's like, I don't want to go wash it off right away. It looks good. And I get more looks when I've got mud on it. Yeah. I like the mud. I like the mud look for sure. Yeah. So have you, I guess you've done some like some off-roading stuff. Have you been like on any trails and have you had some good experiences going off-road on trails?

[00:28:57] So I, yeah, I, there was one, I had a friend, uh, back in New York that had an Outback and we did a few trails. There's not many on those sides of those States, but we did a few. And then probably like two, three weeks after I bought a cross check, I took it up a Jeep trail. So how did that work out? That's probably most memorable.

[00:29:26] Um, I didn't expect it to be, I don't know what I expected, but there was like an entire river, almost Creek thing you had to cross. And then a very, very steep hill. And I did not make it to the top if you were wondering, but the attempt was there. Yeah. Yeah. We don't really have that like low gear to help us like crawl up steep stuff like that. You know, I think maybe if you have a little more power in a torque locker or something

[00:29:55] that might help out, but I haven't, I, so when I went out to Colorado, there was a pretty steep hill that I drove up with a full car. Like I had five people in my car and I was very surprised that Pearl made it up, but she did pretty good. She struggled a little bit, but it was, uh, I was really impressed. Weird. Yeah. A little subie that could. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was looking through your posts and stuff too.

[00:30:25] And I know that you experienced some black ice. So I want to hear more about that because I know that was scary. And then there was also some not so good news with that. Yeah. I don't want to say it was, I mean, I would put it up there with probably top five, not good days of my life. So I guess I did lie a little bit before about getting stuck in mud, but I don't count this because the subie kind of did that.

[00:30:53] But so I was leaving, uh, where I grew up in New York. I had some errands to run and you know, the weather wasn't awful, but it had rained and it was raining on and off. And you know, it's kind of when the temp drops, it's kind of just a breeding ground for black ice and you just, you can't see it. Yeah. And so I went to merge on a highway that I don't know, I've driven on my whole life and

[00:31:22] you know, in the winter time and like actual winter months, it's a very scary kind of snow beltway. But you know, I wasn't super concerned because there wasn't any snow on the ground at this point in time. It had all melted. So I went to merge on the highway. There were a few other cars on the road and, but the water was just picking up so much. So the road was pretty wet and the car in front of me, like there was so much kickback on the water that like, it didn't matter what I was doing.

[00:31:51] It just, I couldn't see. And so I had made it probably like two miles down this highway. And I was like, you know what? I'm going like below 50 miles per hour. Like I wasn't going fast at all. Definitely below the speed limit and everybody else was too. So I just went to merge into the left lane. So to maybe get a little bit more visibility. I did that. It was fine.

[00:32:18] I got probably another half mile down the road and I'm kind of looking down. It's kind of like a hilly part of this interstate and there's just ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. And I was like, huh, that's interesting. That was still pretty far down. But in between this highway is a huge like dip down median. And so I felt my back left tire pick up a little bit. And I was like, that's interesting. And then it stopped. And then it did it again. And I tried to counter steer a little bit.

[00:32:48] And that's when the car completely spun out of control. And I spun, I want to say a few hundred feet down the middle of the highway. Luckily, I didn't hit any of the other cars on the road. Now, were you just like doing 360s down the highway? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And to the point where like the car locked up so much that like there was nothing I could have done except wait for it to stop. And I would say that was probably the scariest part of it.

[00:33:16] And then I ended up landing, thankfully, on the other side, where it's just kind of a dip down. I mean, it's just like a ditch. So when I got out of the car, because it had rained, the ground was wet and there was just grass and mud compacted in the tires. So I couldn't even back out really if I wanted to. I was just spinning mud into the wheel wells. And actually, I had, I think Millie had called me and kind of started talking me through what

[00:33:44] to do because the firefighters had come over and kind of explained to me that the reason why they were down there is because people were going off on this highway all day. Oh gosh. And especially in that exact spot where I went off. And the problem was that they had four or five other people that they had to pull out before me, but it wasn't safe for me to sit in the car in case somebody else went off the road. It wasn't safe for me to stand on the side of the highway in case somebody lost control of their vehicle.

[00:34:12] But it also wasn't safe to stand outside because it was so cold. Yeah. At this point, it was probably like 20 degrees. Jeez. So at this point, I'm thinking I'm going to have to call someone else. Thankfully, like Subaru SOS, I talked to them and kind of seen, you know, what they suggested I do.

[00:34:37] And so it just happened that my dad was like 45 minutes away working that day. And so I just, I called him cause I didn't know the best, the best course of action with all this because they're telling me it could be like a few hours before they can pull this out. And I can't really wait. It's not safe, you know? Yeah. And so he said he would be there. I told him, you know, be careful and take your time. And, um, he came down at this point. I'm thinking I'm going to have to like, you know, put the toe head in and like punch this

[00:35:07] box out and do whatever, because I didn't really want them going underneath the car. Cause at this point I didn't know the damage if there was any. Yeah. Cause the entire front bumper was just embedded in the ground basically. And so he shows up and I'm like, you know what? I just like, we need to get out of the situation. I don't know what else to do. So I told him to get in the passenger seat. I mean, not the passenger seat, the driver's seat, excuse me, put it in X mode and put it in reverse.

[00:35:37] And when I told him to, to just kind of press on the gas a little bit. And I lifted that front bumper up and I pushed the car out of that ditch that day. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. Now I will say after that, the entire drive home, the car shook terribly because there was so much mud compacted in the tires. And I didn't, I didn't want to be driving after that, but I had to.

[00:36:06] And, um, firefighters did come over and speak with me and said that every single other car, every single other one that went off today was totaled. Oh my gosh. Except for mine, except for mine. And there was a guy that flipped and went into the other very large median dip down and landed upside down, basically crushed the vehicle. And unfortunately he passed away that day. So that was, that was a huge eye opener.

[00:36:36] If anyone knows why you should buy a Subaru, I would, I would tell you that story. I would tell Subaru America that story. Yeah. That, wow. That's crazy. That's, yeah, that's so fortunate that your car didn't get totaled. I mean, you must've just landed in exactly the right spot for it not to, and then to be able to get it out, like, thank you for X mode too. And for your, uh, wonder woman muscles, you know, I think it was adrenaline.

[00:37:05] I could definitely not do that today. Oh yeah. I mean, you get in those situations, you hear about people doing like incredible things. So it's just, so I'm sure it's a combination of like, I just want to get out of here. It's cold. Get me home. Uh, yeah, that's a, that's a pretty crazy story. Yeah. Yeah. And I was thinking, I obviously didn't know the damage in case anybody was wondering, uh, the car didn't even need an alignment after that. Yeah.

[00:37:34] With all that shaking you were talking about, I'm sure it's just the mud that was impacted in there. But I know that one time when I went mudding, I ended up getting mud on the inside of my wheels and it was compacted in there. And so it was making the wheels uneven when it was driving and it made it shake. I was, cause I had gone to the airport. I flew out of town and I was coming back and when I was driving back, I was like, why is my front end like shaking?

[00:38:03] It wasn't really bad. It was, but it was noticeable. And then I got home and I was like, I was Googling it or something. I don't remember. Or me, and I think maybe it just hit me like, oh my gosh, there's mud on the inside of the wheels. And that's probably why. And I went out there and like scraped out as much of it as I could. And when I drove it after that, it was perfectly fine. And I was like, oh, thank goodness. And then talk to my friend Jay, who goes by audiophile.

[00:38:30] And he said, he's had that happen when he goes out and does like his autocross in the snow, that the wheels will get compacted with snow and do the same thing. Yep. Definitely want to clean out all the corrosion, no matter what it is, cause it can cause a lot of other problems down the road. So. Yeah. That's what I always have to be careful about when I go hit the mud is make sure I get it out of the wheel. So I try to get that as best as I can, but it's not always easy. Woo.

[00:38:59] That was a, that was a story, but it's all right. Yeah. Yeah. So what would you say is your favorite thing about your cross track? Well, she saved my life. So. Yeah. I would say not in like a weird way, but just kind of talks to me, you know, I guess put all that other crazy stuff aside, like, I don't feel any better than when I, like when I feel

[00:39:29] driving that car, I guess. Oh, I get that. And I'm sure a lot of people listening get it too. It's. Yes. Yeah. That's not, that's not weird at all. It's a, I mean, there's something special about these cars and then there's something special that comes with the cars, which is the community. And then, you know, you hear somebody, somebody else might think that's weird, but you know, we all get it. Yeah.

[00:39:55] I think everybody that I've met, like truly, like they probably don't realize how encouraging that they've been to just letting me kind of be creatively free. You know, I see what everyone else is doing on their Instagrams and how like everyone feels so comfortable being themselves posting what they want to post. Like I enjoy the creative freedom because I know that like, no matter what it is that

[00:40:23] I'm doing, somebody is going to have something to say about it. Yeah. That's really good point. So what would you say about your Crosstrek best matches your personality? Say the red just because we're both a little feisty. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She doesn't necessarily like to go slow. I mean, it's not the fastest car, but I'd say the kick up on a sport is a little, it's there. Yeah. I've heard that.

[00:40:52] I enjoy that too. Yeah. That's nice. If you could describe your Crosstrek in one word, what would it be? Turbo. Yeah. Yeah. And then how has, how would you say that owning your Crosstrek has changed your life other than saving it? That, I mean, yeah, that's definitely opened my eyes, but I really try to live my life by

[00:41:18] perspective and I've never seen any more, like so many perspectives like that I have in this community, especially. And you can appreciate every single one for a different reason. So I would say that, I guess, if that's, if that answers your question. Yeah. Yeah. So like owning your Crosstrek too, is it something where you've realized that it's taken you places

[00:41:47] that maybe other cars wouldn't be able to take you because of the off-road and all-wheel drive capabilities? I think that's a big part of it. Being able to, not to say like go to uncharted places, but just, you know, off the beaten path, you're able to absorb a lot of things that other people don't get to, even if they're very simple things.

[00:42:12] It's taught me to kind of slow down and just stop and look around a lot. So I'm guessing you didn't buy it because you're like, Hey, I want this Crosstrek because it's all wheel drive and it can go off road. And that's the reason I'm going to buy it. It's just something you discovered along the way. Yeah. I think I saw, I mean, I don't want to say I didn't have a vision because I definitely knew that it wasn't just going to stay as it was. Yeah, of course.

[00:42:41] But I did, I do think I saw more in it than just that and all wheel drive reliable vehicle is a plus obviously, and it didn't hurt, but it's definitely, I wouldn't say why, why I bought it. Yeah. It's nice because like you have this car that can go places that just any other car may not be able to go.

[00:43:07] Not to say that other cars can't go off road ish, but it's nice knowing having, it's nice knowing that you have something that can take you to more places than, than not. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And I think that's, what's so fun about them. Cause like, that's what I bought. I knew I bought mine because I wanted to be able to go off road. I just didn't know that I was, it was going to be to the extent that what I've done, I thought it was going to be very simple cause there's not much around here, but it's, you know,

[00:43:36] used and then when you start connecting with other people on Instagram and see some of the places that you're going or that they're going, it's like, these cars are like way more capable than I realized. And that's, what's fun too, is you, you can get them into situations and know that for the most part, you'll be okay and be able to get through it. Yeah. I think there's a lot of inspiration, like truthfully and all of it and you'd be surprised what they're capable of.

[00:44:06] I mean, people have proven that things that people have literally said a cross track can't do, they they've done it and been not just a little bit like very successful at it. And I think it's kind of paving a way for them to be taken more seriously in the off road community. I mean, I know that people have gotten places because of doing more mods with, you know,

[00:44:33] wheels and tires, more off road tires, lifts, skid plates, you know, all these things that help you be more off road capable, but they're still very capable even as a stock vehicle and more capable than people realize. Yeah. The salesman at Subaru said, you could drive this thing up a mountain. It's true. That's probably the first and only thing he said to me. And I was like, yeah, I believe you. Like, yeah, let's do it. Exactly.

[00:45:04] Where do I sign the paperwork? Have you been up any mountain trails? The Smoky Mountains, but not any trails except for that Jeep trail is a little bit mountainous. But other than that, nothing, I think super, I mean, hills, but nothing super high. Yeah. It's fun when I've had, like when I went to Colorado, I got to do some pretty, pretty cool stuff, but just sucks that it's so far away. So I got to go back at some point. I'd love to do that.

[00:45:33] I've thought so many ways of how I want to, because I've seen there's so much different terrain out there. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's not a want, it's a need. Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah. So here's a little segment that is, I call like getting to know the person behind the account, but who is Ashley?

[00:45:54] A lot of things, but I would say, I would say my intent for wanting to do this and wanting to be on the podcast simply just because there is so many bad things in the world, so many bad things going on. And I would like to be somebody where people can go and just, it just be all positive. They're seeing positive things.

[00:46:23] You kind of forget about what's going on in the rest of the world and what stresses them out because we all have, we all have stressors. We all have things we worry about, things we didn't wish were happening. I think with the Subaru community specifically, I have realized a lot about myself and that, you know, a lot of the things that I beat myself up over were things that I didn't have control over in the first place.

[00:46:49] And two, remind yourselves of that, that a lot of the times we beat ourselves up for things that we can't, we can't control. And I think moving forward, it's been a lot easier for me to kind of highlight the things that I can, that I can control and focus on those things and just know that it doesn't define me as a person. Circumstances don't define a person. It's who you are that defines you. So were you born in Western New York?

[00:47:18] Because we were talking about where you've been floating around your life earlier. So I was born in Pennsylvania, but I grew up in Western New York. Okay. Gotcha. What is a favorite memory from your childhood? Probably anytime I could get my hands on something, I could drive. Yeah. At bikes, quads, mules, anything.

[00:47:49] So you've been, you've had the driving bug for a while then. My dad always says it's in our blood. My, my grandpa was actually a race car driver, not like, you know, huge, well-known race car driver, but in our area he was. Nice. And he just drove, he drove late models in like the sixties and seventies. And so I had that as a kid.

[00:48:13] And because he knew so many people, him and my dad, like my dad was growing up, they'd race RC cars. And so when I was a kid, I'd go to those. And then also all the guys my dad grew up with, he would go to the tracks and like his friends would race late models and my bosses and stuff like that, big cars. And so a lot of the times I'd get to go into the pits and like go into their trailers and like help them fix cars and, you know, do all that fun stuff.

[00:48:43] And then, um, there was one guy who was very influential to me as a kid, um, that did a lot with parting. And he had some little bit to do with the FIA and like formula E and stuff like that. And that's what got me into F1. So there's been multiple, I think streams, but it's always been there. So am I, I'm super biased in a lot of ways. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:49:12] But, um, it does stem farther than that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's really cool to grow up around that and then just like kind of have cars and driving in your blood, you know, you can't, you couldn't get away from it. And so I'm guessing that you probably really enjoy driving. I really do. Yeah. Except for when there's black ice. Except for when there's black ice. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:38] Other than that, I, I was definitely driving cars way before I should have been driving cars, you know, not on the open road or anything, but just, yeah. My dad always jokes because I have, I have three brothers and I just, I'm the one who caught the bug real bad. It's funny how that stuff works. Yeah. My, there's a parking lot behind the school where my daughter went and went to high school and I used to let my son drive my previous car.

[00:50:06] Cause it was, it was an automatic and it was a smaller car, but I used to let him drive it around the parking lot when he was 12 because I wanted him to get used to driving a real car early on so that he would get the feel for it. And, you know, know how to use the blinkers and know how to break and everything. Cause I didn't want him to like get into a car for the first time when he started doing like, you know, his, his driving for, to get his permit.

[00:50:35] You know, I wanted him to start early and just get that feel for it. But that was about it. And then, you know, we do go-karts every once in a while. So he kind of got a feel for that, but that was fun. Go-karts. Oh yeah. Those are always fun. So what is it you do for a living? Because you talked about being gone for three and a half weeks. Well, so I'm guessing like you're probably not sitting in an office or behind a computer all the time. Trust me. I did the office thing for, for a long time.

[00:51:04] Uh, right now me and my boyfriend flip houses with his parents. And so you can catch me on any given day with a sledgehammer cause I really like beating up tile floors and stuff like that, ripping cabinets out. Nice. But I also do a lot of the media stuff. Okay. If you can blame that for their business. Oh, that's good. So I guess that then, and that gives you the freedom to travel and go do stuff in between the physical work, I guess. Yeah.

[00:51:34] I mean, we have designated things that we do. So they buy a property and we go in and basically rip it to shreds and then paint, put, you know, floors and whatever we want to do, we do first. Okay. And then we have contractors come in and basically do either things that we don't trust ourselves to do or stuff like that. But most of them are 60 day flips anyway.

[00:51:59] So at any given time we're here for 60 days, but just before we went on this, this last trip for three and a half weeks, we had three houses we were working on at once. And so now it's been three weeks and all of them are almost ready to go on the market. So it's very, very fast paced. Yeah. That sounds really cool though. And I'm guessing with your, since you're doing the media stuff, you can just do that from anywhere, right? Oh yeah. So I do all the before and afters.

[00:52:28] I wouldn't say the realty is internal too, but there's people in the company that also have real estate licenses. Okay. So I'll, I'll actually make like the walkthrough videos for the, for the realty company and they'll take those and post those. Nice. For like the listing and stuff. So I do do that, but yeah, that I can do from anywhere. That's cool. Yeah. That's nice to have that freedom. So what would your, I mean, it sounds like you've got a pretty good gig going right now,

[00:52:54] but what would your dream job be if you could do anything for a living? Something with the ocean. Yeah. Something, something with the ocean. I have, was tossed in a pool when I was like three years old and I did a lot of things with swimming throughout my entire life. And, um, I just, I've always been really curious. The ocean's very scary. Yeah. But, um. Intriguing. Intriguing. Yeah.

[00:53:24] Yeah. Yeah. All right. And then what hobbies do you have besides like driving your Subaru? I feel like my life kind of sort of evolved around this at this point, but, um, I cook a lot. I think that's, that is one way that I kind of show people I care about that I care about them. Yeah. So, so are you cooking for other people? Yeah. I mean, I usually cook for myself, but, um, I can't ever just cook for myself if that makes sense.

[00:53:54] Yeah. It's hard to share everything. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to cook for one person. I guess depending on what it is you're cooking, if you're just making a burger, that's easy. But, but I guess if you're cooking stuff and you enjoy it and you're making stuff that you are really enjoying eating, you're like, well, I want to share this with other people. Yeah. I mean, I guess I could have kind of put this all under kind of the same heading, but I feel like I'm just a very creative person. I do.

[00:54:22] I wouldn't say I'm at the level of professional photography at this point, but that is something that I have been looking at for the past year to kind of start doing as well. Yeah. Because that does consume a lot of my time. That's good stuff too. Yeah. Photography is always good. And then what is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? I have to remind myself that there's things I haven't seen yet. Oh yeah. That I want to see.

[00:54:52] And I can't just sit around and do nothing to get there. Yeah. Good point. What is something that makes you want to stay in bed? I would say kind of what I said earlier, just kind of the state of the world. Like even wherever anybody stands on that, just the state of the world. And in like my own personal opinion, like society has kind of lowered its standards.

[00:55:20] So if I like overthink that too much, it bothers me because me as one person can't do anything about that. Just stay in bed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What would be your best bit of advice to give to somebody about anything? Open your mind. Yes. Open your mind to other people's perspectives and people's, even people's just different ways of life.

[00:55:47] And that like a perspective being different than yours doesn't mean it. It's wrong. You can learn something from anything. I know what I said before with the whole like control thing. There's so many circumstances we come across that we can't control. But I've really tried to remind myself that it can be the most horrible thing. It can be the best thing in the world and you can take something from it and look at yourself at the end of the day.

[00:56:17] Is there anything else you want to talk about or anything you want to share that I didn't ask about your Subaru journey or about you or your cross track? Just support the podcast. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That's what I would say. They don't want to find me. So. Yeah. I'm very thankful for people tuning in for as long as they have, but I guess it's, they're still tuning in cause I'm still doing it.

[00:56:47] Yeah. I think it's part of my routine at least. I like that. For a lot of people, they'd say the same. They're waiting for that episode every week. And there's something very special about what you do and what you do for the community because you're right. Like not only are you doing something for the community, you're a part of it. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. Well, before we go, I almost forgot, but I have to ask you a very, very important question.

[00:57:16] This is probably the most important question of the whole episode. Okay. I'm ready. Waffles or pancakes? Waffles. Oh, come on. That looked like the wrong answer. No, that's okay. That's if that's what you like. That's what you like. I like both. I hate to be the person that says, you know, they're made basically all the same batter. I just like the shape of waffles better. Yeah, I get that.

[00:57:46] Yeah. Waffles are fun. Don't get me wrong. I've made, you can, I've, so I've taken like just the frozen waffles and I've made peanut butter and jelly sandwich with waffles. That's good. I've made a burger with waffles. Can't really do it with pancakes. I mean, I guess you could, but there's, there's a particular place that I like to get pancakes and they make them, they just taste really good and then they put a nice crispy edge around it. And it's just, that does it for me.

[00:58:15] I might be from the North, but I really do enjoy chicken waffles. So that was what I had in mind when you said that. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a good answer. I know a lot of people will enjoy or will like your answer because there are a lot of people that like waffles over pancakes. Yeah. Please let me know if you're a waffle person, I'm not alone on this island over here. No, you are definitely not alone with liking waffles. Well, all right. Well, there's nothing else.

[00:58:43] I guess we'll go ahead and wrap this up. Good stuff. Thank you again for having me on. You're welcome. It was a pleasure having you on. And I, you know, that was, ended up being a tragic story for somebody, but I think that was a really important story to tell. Just take something from it. That's all I ask. Yeah. Yeah. Buy a Subaru. Buy. Yeah. This is what makes a Subaru a Subaru. Yeah, exactly. Yes.

[00:59:11] So, well, thank you so much for your time. I enjoyed having you on and it was nice to see you. Yeah, it was nice to see you too. Yeah. Well, have a good night and I'll talk to you later. All right. Okay. Take three with my jacked up voice. Thank you. Thank you everybody for tuning in to another episode of the Subi and You podcast. And thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to record with me to share your story and your Subaru journey. Be sure to give Ashley a follow on Instagram.

[00:59:40] Her handle is sally.xtrek. And I'm going to make this short because I can't take it anymore. But I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving. Again, enjoy time with friends and family and have lots to be thankful for. And again, it's okay to be thankful for the Subi and You podcast. I am thankful for all of you. And thank you so much again to my sponsors and my patrons. Hope you all have a great week and can enjoy some time off.

[01:00:07] And again, eating some great food and probably too much, but that's okay. That's part of what Thanksgiving is about, isn't it? So see you next Monday for another episode. And I hope you all have a great week. And I want to give another shout out to Jim for putting together this little outro for me. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it. The Subi and You podcast is hosted by Raphael in a closet in Houston, produced by Raphael

[01:00:35] in a room next to the closet in Houston, and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the closet in Houston, with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston. You can find the Subi and You podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and many more. To support the podcast, please head over to patreon.com slash subiandupodcast. Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel and Discord chats with other patrons.

[01:01:02] If you'd like to get in contact with the show, you can find them on Instagram at subiandupodcast, online at subiandupodcast.com, or by email, subiandupodcast at gmail.com. That's all for this week. Tune in Mondays for new episodes. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.